Assassins in Gaia

Cloud looked at Ace as he took out gifts for all of them and by all of them, he literally meant all of them. He half wondered what shenanigans Ace got up to on his own and was a bit worried he might bite off more than he could chew all by himself. But then again, this was Ace so he was probably fine, probably, he couldn't help the worry in his heart.

Ace, "Here Cloud, Auntie Claudia sent this for you."

Cloud opened it, "A wolf fur coat."

Reno, "That looks so cool, yo."

Zack, "Nice. Fur like this costs quite a bit here, a luxury item for most."

Ace smirked, "Don't worry I got gifts for you lot too, not just my baby cousin."

Zack perked up receiving a large package, "Is this a broad sword?"

Ace grinned, "Materia broadsword. I met a blacksmith who specializes in such weapons. It reminded me of you and commissioned one."

Zack shifted from one feet to another feeling excited, "Awesome."

Genesis, "We can test it tomorrow puppy."

Sephiroth nodded, "Hn, it looks really well made."

Ace, "I was not sure what to get the two of you. I only know you through texts, calls and letters from Cloud, Zack, Julian and Kunsel. But I got you a range of Nibelheim's finest mead and two fully matured Ice materia."

Sephiroth beamed, "I have really missed these, thank you. It has been years since I had some Nibelheim mead."

Cloud nodded, "I keep on forgetting you were born their originally."

Ace laughed, "Well, he may have been born there but he was raised here."

Tseng gave his Turks a look, "Do not go sniffing around for this. Cerebus is still active and does not like snoopers."

Cissnei gave a sheepish grin, "Got it boss."

Rude nodded, "Understood."

Reno pouted, "Fine."

Ace snorted, "Do not worry. I have something for you lot too. Whether you like it or not however... "

Tseng, "We can discuss it later."

Genesis inspected the materia, "Tell me dear one, how and where did you get natural ice materia? Last I checked the last natural materia created was around six hundred years ago."

Ace lifted his finger up, "That's my secret."

Cloud, "And that worries me. You are not doing crazy stunts to get these right?"

Ace, "Maybe? Maybe not."

Cloud looked at him exasperated, "Ace!"

Ace, "Don't worry, I have Solaris with me."

Zack shook his head, "Despite that, if it's dangerous you really shouldn't be going to those areas to begin with. Hell, even SOLDIERs do not travel to certain terrains."

Sephiroth, "I have to agree with puppy here. Even SOLDIERs do not go to certain areas alone like you used to."

Ace smiled, "I understand but don't worry. I make sure I always have back up."

Genesis looked at Ace dubiously before turning to Sephiroth, "I have only known him for a few minutes and I want to baby him really bad."

Ace, "Oi!"

Tseng nodded, "Indeed, it is very strange, isn't it?"

Cloud deadpanned, "Wait till you hear about him playing tag with a bunch of wolves and baby dragons under the excuse of training."

Genesis was torn between laughing hysterically and wrapping the younger man who was barely an adult in blankets. Sephiroth looked like he wanted to challenge Ace but also to drag him to the medics. Tseng sighed, his previous boss had informed him about the youngster's little habits, he thought it was an exaggeration, guess it was not. Reno and Elena looked like they wanted to join Ace while Cissnei and Rude were staring after realizing the implications.

Cissnei, "No, don't even think about it."

Elena, "But.."

Rude, "No."

Reno, "Come on, yo."

Cissnei, "Absolutely not."

Julian joined them at that moment carrying a tray with drinks. He had taken the snack box from Ace earlier and put it on a plate while placing some Midgar based snacks on a second plate. He looked around the room at the weirded out expressions everyone was having and thanked his leader for having the insight to let his team rest. If his team had followed him then, they would no doubt be in a similar predicament.

Julian drawled, "I see you all learned about my teacher's strange habit."

Sephiroth turned to him sharply, "Materia specialist Julian, I suppose you are used to the drastic environment changes and training, which was why you were able to perform flawlessly compared to others?"

Julian shrugged, "Just Julian sir. Vincent, Desmond and Ace here didn't want me to join any army before learning how to deal with my surroundings."

Cloud winced as he moved to help Julian, he remembered that training, "Yeah."

Julian grinned like a shark, "Cloud and Tifa were taught by the three of them too. So don't be fooled by their cute face and innocent looks. They both know how to kill and survive harsh conditions."

Zack beamed biting the Nibel cookie, "That's my Cloud."

Zack pouted, "This means I'll have to step up my training and become stronger too."

Ace gave a sly smile, "I would love to train you and see how strong you are."

Zack, "Really?"

Ace eye smiled, "I'm going to Wutai after one week for my own personal reasons. I'm sure we can come up with a schedule."

Cloud looked at Zack muttering, "Zack, I'll light a candle for you."

Zack who was beaming looked at Cloud, "What? Why?"

Ace turned to the Turks, "You we welcome to join, of course."

Elena, "Sounds fun! Can we boss please?"

Reno, "Yeah, we have been doing nothing but guard Shinra Jr while here, yo."

Tseng, "We'll see and speaking of guard duty, it's time."

The two youngest Turks groaned as they said goodbye and left the group. They were guarding Rufus Shinra, who was a pretty chill guy and didn't demand anything from the two of them. But it was just mind numbing boring for them, although there were exciting times when someone tried to kidnap Rufus but those were far, few and in between. The two grabbed two sodas and a handful of snacks before disappearing from the apartment.

Cloud snorted, "I'll light a candle for them too."

Tseng shook his head at Cloud's antics, "Thank you, for the package and the tea. I appreciate it, but I better run now."

Ace, "Tell Veld, Vincent says hi and is close to figuring out where Felicia is. Tell him not to do anything stupid."

Tseng paused, "Interesting."

Sephiroth looked Ace over contemplatively, "We should spar sometimes."

Ace smirked, "It would be my pleasure."

Genesis, "Thank you for the materia and the food, but we need to get to work as well. Sephiroth needs to take over here and I have to go to Wutai soon. I say, we should get together after you reach Wutai to exchange notes on materia. You must have an intrinsic knowledge to be able to find them."

Ace, "Everything I know is from my own trial and error with the things. While the guide book is good, it doesn't help much with the actual thing."

Genesis smirked, "If it were easy would it be worth our effort?"

Ace, "Well said."

The two First Class left after that and Julian got up to go change from his own uniform. He promised to drop by the next day as it was his day off. Cloud then fully relaxed and snuggled on Ace's side giving a sigh. Aside from Tifa, Zack, Julian and lately Aerith, he couldn't help but remain tense with other people around. The four of them tried to help with his social awkwardness but some things are just hard to overcome.

Zack sat next to Cloud who was burying himself in Ace's stomach, "You good Cloud?"

Cloud nodded, "Yeah, so why are you here exactly?"

Ace smiled running his hand through Cloud's hair, "You have always been sharp eyed. But yes, I'm not here just for fun. I'm here to investigate a Don Corneo."

Zack made a face, "You want to investigate who? Are you serious?"

Ace, "Do you remember Mark from Costa Del Sol?"

Cloud looked at Ace his eyes lighting up, "I remember him."

Ace nodded, "His brother has not contacted him for six months. He is worried something happened."

Zack, "And you think Corneo was involved?"

Ace, "Maybe, he was. They were business partners, according to my investigations."

Cloud, "I'm helping you. You are not going there alone."

Ace, "I was gonna ask Tifa, but okay. We'll have to dress up though."

Cloud blushed, "Dress "

Zack, "Awww! I'm gonna miss seeing Cloud dress up, I'm leaving early tomorrow."

Ace, "I'll save you a photo."

Cloud, "Ace!"

Ace, "Don't worry, I know you will look fabulous. You certainly looked magnificent as a fairy."

Zack nodded remembering the time he had found a photo of Cloud, Ace and Tifa dressed as fairies back in Nibelheim. Cloud had turned red on seeing Zack with the photo. Zack had pestered him till he told him everything. He spoke about how Ace had made them dress up and use their training to avoid the people while visiting the village.

Cloud blushed, "Stop teasing."

Ace, "Okay, okay! But Cloud seriously speaking, this case is, sort of, delicate. There is proof that he has been kidnapping girls and kids to sell them. It's not just the people here, but also from outside, it can get nasty, especially if the kids get involved."

Cloud frowned, "I understand, I will be careful. When do we hit them?"

Ace, "From what I gather Andrea sounds smart and has a good head on his shoulder so I'll first figure out what is up with him. Then deal with Don."

Zack, "Andrea as in Andrea Rhodea? The Andrea Rhodea from Sector six? The guy who is the new upcoming Super Star?"

Cloud, "I think so? I didn't realize, he stopped communicating with his brother. Mark is a kind man who loves his siblings."

Zack, "Maybe it's work. He is in the spotlight right now, so maybe he is just stressed about everything."

Ace, "I see. I would still like to talk to him, to make sure, he is truly alright."

Zack, "Well I have an idea. I was going to suggest we spend the night at home as I'm leaving tomorrow but... We could go watch his show too, his show is mostly after dinner."

Ace, "That sounds like a plan."

Cloud, "We could eat somewhere close to where he works."

Ace, "Fine by me. Okay spill, you have the same look Cloud has when he wants something."

Zack was surprised but grinned, "Can I pet Solaris?"

Ace snorted, "Sure, but do remember she is a dragon not some dog or cat or chocobo and if she feels insulted she will hurt you. Are you sure you want to do that?"

Zack nodded, "I'll be respectful and I will not push her."

Ace, "Alright let's go, we will have to go to the outskirts as she doesn't like this place one bit."

Zack, "It takes time to reach there, if we go now we could probably get back before dinner time."

Ace, "Let's go."

Solaris who was sunbathing on one of the open empty fields opened her left eye and looked at her rider. He was not a bad human all things considered but she was also sure he was not a complete human either. She observed the two humans beside her human, one had colour of the sunny sky and the other reminded her of the dark nights. She lifted her head and grunted a greeting at her human while sniffing the other two. The sunny one smelled like her humans nest mate while the dark one smelled like he was the sunny one's mate. She grunted and sat down realizing there was no danger whatsoever.

Ace smiled, "Zack go ahead say hello."

Zack stood straight, "He.. He.. Hello. I am Zack."

Cloud, "It's good to see you again, Solaris. Thank you for taking care of Ace."

Solaris grunted at Cloud but stared at Zack who was just standing there not moving as she observed him longer. She then grunted and went back to sleeping, showing her back to them.

Ace smiled, "Sorry Zack, she's not in the mood for pats."

Zack, "Aww! That's too bad. I wanted to pat her too. She looks so cool."

Ace laughed, "Maybe once she gets to know you better in the future."

Zack perked up at that, "I can live with that."

Cloud, "I have never tried to pat her. I have a feeling I won't like how she reacts."

Ace snickers, "Let me just take out the meat for her then we can go back and have our own dinner."

Ace took out the meat he had prepped and stored in one of his magically enlarged pouches. One that he had made specifically to hold raw cut up meat prepared for Solaris's diet after many trials and errors. Solaris rumbled happy with the food Ace made for her, he was very patient while preparing it for her. Solaris chomped down as Ace left with the other humans to do whatever humans did. They were very strange creatures trying to poison themselves. But it's none of her business she supposed, as long as her rider was alright.